Scarlett slept in the next morning, choosing to skip church and catch up on rest. Funny that she’d chosen to forgo services on the day she most felt she needed to repent. Her reaction to the charming stranger had been almost animalistic, and thinking of it now, she felt as if she’d done something wrong by agreeing to dance with him.
No, Scarlett wasn’t one of those crazy folks from that town in Footloose. She absolutely loved to dance, to live her life to the fullest. Only last night she’d felt full in a different way—and it bothered her.
Perhaps she could call home and talk to her old friend Elise about all this. They had been thick as thieves until Scarlett had declared her intention to leave Texas and pursue greater adventure. Her high school friends never understood her desire for more, nor did they understand how she intended to get by working as a librarian in Alaska.
But her friend was a youth pastor now and would surely have more experience dealing with hormonal surges like the one that had coursed through Scarlett’s body last night.
Could she bring herself to admit what she’d felt? Could she even put it into words?
Hmm… Hopefully she’d have more clarity after a cup of coffee or two. She pulled herself out of bed and made her way into the kitchen, her goldfish pajama pants picking up dust as she walked. How long had it been since she’d last given this place a good sweep?
Too long, obviously. She mentally added this new task to her lengthening list for the day.
In the kitchen, she found her favorite vanilla brew coffee and popped a K-Cup into the machine. Next, she fished a croissant from the bread drawer and lathered it with a generous slab of butter.
Already, she began to feel more human as she left yesterday behind and forged a new path for today.
It was just an adventure, just a one-time, weird thing, she told herself as she heated a bit of milk in the microwave. Back in her bedroom, her phone jingled with the ringtone she’d set for Liz.
Calling to get all the gossip now, are you? She smirked at how well she knew her friend and realized that her current conundrum wouldn’t even exist if Liz had gone to the ball with her as planned.
“Hey,” Scarlett croaked into the phone, using her voice for the first time that day and hating how it sounded.
“Scar, quick! Turn on the TV!” her friend shouted, and the sound shot straight to Scarlett’s brain, forming an insta-headache.
“Do you have to be so loud before I’ve had my coffee?” she grumbled, tracing her way back to the living room and searching for the remote.
“Do you see it yet?”
“My remote? No.”
Liz let out an impatient sigh. “This is important, Scar! Just push the button on the TV set.”
“Fine.” Scarlett walked up to the TV and felt around under the flat screen surface to find the power button. “What chann—?”
Her question was immediately cut off when the screen flickered to life, only to reveal her mysterious suitor from the night before.
“Liz! How…?” So many thoughts fought for her attention that all Scarlett could do in that moment was gasp as she watched the familiar face speak unheard words on the local news station.
“Keep watching. There’s footage of you, too.”
She frantically felt for the volume buttons. What was he saying? How did Liz know him? And why would there be footage of Scarlett?
“I would’ve come if I’d known you needed me there to keep you out of trouble,” her friend said gently, then exploded again. “I can’t believe you spent all night flirting with Henry Mitchell, III!”
At last he had a name, and surprisingly, it was one she already knew. Dread pooled in her stomach, hot and bitter like the coffee that sat losing steam in her kitchen. She wanted to vomit.
“Mitchell? As in…?”
“Yes, yes, that’s him! His grandfather is the first, his dad is the second—”
“And he’s the third,” Scarlett finished, immediately understanding why she’d felt such a severe case of ick upon waking up that day.
Now more than ever, she hoped she would never see this man—this Henry Mitchel, III—again.
But first she wanted to hear what he had to say and learn why her face was splashed all over the news.